Judging a premier event is tough; don't let anyone tell you differently. You travel far and work long hours. You're generally working with a staff that you may have met before, and perhaps even worked with, but don't really know. After those long hard hours it's time to get to know your fellow judges with some serious judge EDH.

I'm just returning from Grand Prix Houston. Sunday night after the main event was over and the public events were winding down six very tired judges gathered in the lobby of the Hilton Americas to sling 100 cards. This is their story.

Since we had six players I decided that my Pheldagrif "Group Hug" deck would be a good choice. My good friend and fellow Tampa Bay judge CJ Crooks wanted to borrow a deck, so I loaned him my first '$50 EDH Deck?' Mayael, the Anima from a previous mananation.com article. Andrew Hall, also hailing from Tampa Bay, laid down Thraximundar. Jacob Lowe brought Rith, the Awakener. Frank Tavern decided on Sliver Queen and Will Besant had Korlash. We ordered some pizza delivery, shuffled up, rolled a die and CJ played first.

After a turn of everyone playing a land, Will had the first spell of the game with a very exciting Sol Ring. Andrew matched Will's colorless ramp with a Signet. Will then comes out of the gates with Korlash, trouble is brewing already!

CJ casts Elfhame Sanctuary and Andrew matched his enchantment with a Grave Pact. Keeping up the Enchantment theme Jacob cast Idyllic Tutor fetching Overabundance.

Frank casts Yavimaya Elder and announces him as "Kill Me Billy".

Will gets down to business casting Sword of Fire and Ice and equips it to Korlash. Will doesn't like the looks of the Grave Pact in play so attacks Andrew with his sworded up Korlash, and does the 2 damage from Sofi to Frank.

CJ casts Civic Wayfinder and fetches that land.

Andrew puts out High Market, which draws oohs and aahs from the group, then casts Pyre Zombie.

Jacob casts the Overabundance he tutored for last turn. No one is very happy about it!

Frank casts Skyshroud Claim and Viridian Zealot.

Will attacks Jacob with Korlash since he's unhappy about the Overabundance in play. Andrew is still stinging from being attacked the previous turn so he sacks Pyre Zombie to take out Korlash. Frank decides that if Will doesn't have a Korlash, he doesn't need a Sofi either, and sacks Viridian Zealot targeting Sofi. Will's left with a nearly empty board, so he casts Oblivion Stone and pops it. Goodbye to all those enchantments!

Now that we've had the first board sweep, I get in the action by casting Pheldagrif.

Jacob has the next play with Ageless Entity. Frank disapproves so Reprisal takes care of the Ageless Entity.

Frank must be afraid of Andrew with Pyre Zombie in the yard, so he casts Mind Twist for all the cards in Andrew's hand.

Will wants to keep the board clean, so he casts Nevinyrral's Disk.

I want to get the Group Hug going, so I cast Loxodon Peacekeeper.

CJ casts Acidic Slime targeting Disk with the CITP trigger, delaying the next board wipe for a while.

Andrew has no cards in hand, so he returns Pyre Zombie from the yard.

Jacob plays out his General, Rith, the Awakener.

Frank gets crazy on us casting Phyrexian Ranger and Wood Elves.

Will casts Fleshbag Marauder. Lucky I still had Loxodon Peacekeeper to sack rather than having to kill my happy hippo of love.

I top deck top, Sensei's Divining Top that is, and cast it.

CJ Casts Sabretooth Nishoba, let the fatness begin!

Andrew is apparently drawing dead after the big Mind Twist, so casts his General Thraximundar. Andrew assigns all of us a number, and then rolls a die, appearing to be deciding who to attack with the hasty Thraximundar. The die lands on Jacob's number, but it was all a farce because Andrew but holds Thraximundar back.

Jacob casts Citanel Flute.

Frank casts Bringer of the Blue Dawn and Oversold Cemetery.

Will casts Mutilate to sweep the board yet again. I pay a blue to return Pheldagrif to my hand and let Andrew draw a much needed card.

I decide the board looks far too empty, so I remedy that by casting Gate to the Aether!

CJ thinks it's time for his General, and out comes Mayael, the Anima. CJ follows up with a Shield of the Oversoul for his General. Uh Oh!

Andrew puts a Kaleidoscope into play with the Gate to the Aether trigger.

Jacob uses his Aether trigger to put Sneak Attack into play.

Frank uses Oversold Cemetery to retrieve Yavimaya Elder from the yard and puts it into play, then casts Worldheart Phoenix.

Will makes us nervous with a Demonic Tutor, then plays out Chainer, Dementia Master.

I turn over Austere Command with my Gate to the Aether trigger, when CJ reminds me I have Top in play, so should be good to go on Aether triggers. Oops! I cast Pheldagrif from my hand.

Andrew gets a Malevolent Awakening off his Gate to the Aether trigger then casts Pyre Zombie.

Jacob uses Sneak Attack to put Solemn Simalcrum into play and fetches a land, then attacks me which I block with Pheldagrif and Jacob draws his Yens card. Jacob casts Angelic Force.

Frank reveals Enigma Sphinx with his Gate to the Aether trigger, but wisely decides to draw it.

Will gets a Sword of Light and Shadow with his Aether trigger, then casts Nightmare Lash. Will equips Sword of Light and Shadow to Chainer, Dementia Master. Jacob uses Sneak Attack to put Indrik Stomphowler into play destroying the Sword of Light and Shadow, then casts Path to Exile targeting Chainer, Dementia Master, which Will sacks targeting Yavimaya Elder.

After handing out goodies with Pheldagrif and the end of Will's turn, I play a Mikikoro on my turn and activate it so we can all draw a card. At my EOT CJ uses Mayael's ability and gets a Windbrisk Raptor.

CJ gets a Plated Slagwurm with his Aether trigger then attacks Jacob with Windbrisk Raptor.

Andrew gets a great Aether trigger with Avatar of Woe and casts Glen Elendra, Archmage.

Jacob gets a forest from his Aether trigger, and starts casting spells like a mad man, replenish brings back all his nifty enchantments, then he casts Tamanoa, Academy Rector and Enduring Renewal.

Frank gets a Spidersilk Armor with his Aether trigger and casts Sen Triplets. Everyone just loves Sen Triplets (NOT!).

Will casts Korlash and attaches Nightmare Lash. At Will's EOT I return Pheldagrif to my hand, allowing Andrew to draw a card as he is still behind from Mind Twist.

I get a Noble Benefactor with my Aether trigger. I cast Austere Command choosing Artifacts and Enchantments. I take the pain from the Overabundance back in play due to Jacob's Replenish. CJ apparently takes offence that Jacob is doing damage to Group Hug and swears revenge! I painlessly cast Pheldagrif from my hand yet again.

CJ follows through on his revenge and attacks Jacob with Hellkite Charger and Plated Slagwurm, then pays Hellkite Charger to do it all over again. Nasty! Andrew thinks attacking twice is too much, so destroys Hellkite Charger with Avatar of Woe this go round.

Andrew casts Phyrexian Arena.

I ask Jacob to attack me so I can block with Noble Benefactor, and he obliges. I get Anvil of Bogardan when Noble Benefactor goes to the yard.

Frank casts Living Death, I respond by using Pheldagrif to dole out lots of life, tokens and card draws all around, tapping myself out, and then return the love hippo to my hand. Noble Benefactor comes back into play, but so does Fleshbag Marauder, so I sack Noble Benefactor and everyone tutors again. I get Hive Mind with the Noble Benefactor trigger. Shenanigans are sure to ensue if I can cast Anvil of Bogardan and Hive Mind on my next turn!

Will casts Myojin of Nights Reach and removes the counter. It sucks especially hard since we all just tutored twice. I'm pretty sure I'll have to start swinging at Will with Pheldagrif soon. Will casts Yagmoth's Will playing a ton of random stuff from his yard, then casts Corrupt targeting Andrew to kill him. CJ promises to avenge him! This game would have turned out much differently if it weren't for the mass mind twist… Sad Panda.

I cast Pheldagrif from my hand, I've lost track of how many times I've paid for Pheldagrif now.

CJ has his Hellkite Charger and other fatties back from the Living Death, so attacks Will, then pays to do it all again, hitting Will for a total of 30.

Jacob casts Recoup so he can cast Replenish and get all those damn enchantments back, then casts Rith.

Frank casts an Overabundance of his own then brings out Sliver Queen.

Will attacks CJ with Myojin of Nights Reach, then casts Oblivion Stone and pops it. You probably know what I do, give out Pheldagrif goodies and return Pheldagrif to my hand.

I cast Pheldagrif from my hand yet again, and throw in a Liege of the Hollows.

CJ casts Mayael, the Anima.

Jacob casts Woodfall Primus killing something of Will's. It's 1AM now, so my notes are getting more and more fuzzy. CJ swears I was dozing off and snoring, but it's all lies, all lies I tell you!

Franks casts Sliver Queen, Generals are just popping up everywhere.

Will casts Cruel Edict targeting Frank, who wisely creates a Sliver token to sack. Oops! Will casts Helm of Kaldra and Cruel Tutor.

I do absolutely nothing, but I swear I wasn't asleep during this turn, it's all lies!

CJ brings out Flameblast Dragon and throws enough mana into it to kill Will. He lasted a turn longer than I thought after his mass Mind Twist.

Jacob casts Rith and Well of Lost Dreams then attacks CJ with Woodfall Primus. CJ uses Mayael's ability to put Oakgnarl Warrior into play. The honeymoon is over, it looks like we're getting down to the nitty gritty now, and I decide to let this all play out and stop using my love hippo to dole out goodies. (not because I was asleep!)

Frank does notta, maybe he was asleep?

I am thinking we should get as many creatures into play as possible to get these life totals down, so I cast Hunted Wumpus. Only CJ has a creature to put into play, Twilight Shepherd.

CJ goes into full "take you out" mode and swings into Jacob for a Metric Ton.

Will swings at me with Woodfall Primus knowing I will block with Liege and he can get a lots and lots of blocking tokens.

Frank and I do nothing, but we're not asleep!

CJ casts Hurricane for 24 taking us all down to a low life total. Jacob reminds us that CJ has now done damage to Group Hug!

Jacob attacks CJ with Woodfall Primus and Frank makes 11 Sliver tokens EOT.

Frank attacks Jacob with 20 Sliver Tokens, taking out Jacob, and then casts Phyrexian Splicer.

I may snore just a little bit here. But not much I swear!

CJ casts Insurrection and swings into Frank with everything he has thinking he can take Frank out. Frank has tricks and casts a fog effect to stay alive. Now CJ is tapped out and a sitting duck.

Frank swings into CJ with a bajillion Sliver tokens ending CJ's evening, then hits me with the same on his next turn. CJ wakes me up and tells me I'm out.

And so ends our fairy tale of 6 judges, one small round table, and 600 cards. Two pizzas and a few adult beverages later we're all beat and head back to our rooms for some much needed sleep!

Thanks to everyone who said "Hi" at the Grand Prix, it seems that people actually do read my ramblings! And a big big thanks to CJ, Andrew, Jacob, Frank and Will for letting me take note during the game since I desperately needed an article for today after two full weekends of judging…

Be sure to stop by ManaNation.com next week where I'll be posting my first "Home Improvement" article, i.e. building stuff out of Magic Cards. Until then, this is Dale Lovelace telling you, there is more than one way to play!